The Las Vegas Raiders landed their quarterback of the future in Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Now, the Raiders must focus on building out the rest of their roster.
While Las Vegas struggled through quarterback problems in 2025, their defense clearly needed some work as well. Which is why safety Treydan Stukes is the Raiders’ selection at No. 36 in Matt Miller of ESPN’s latest mock draft.
“Stukes is one of the most versatile defensive backs in the draft, and teams fell in love with his 4.33 speed in the predraft process and the fact that he was a three-time team captain,” Miller wrote. “The Raiders’ need at safety was almost as big as the need at quarterback.”
Pass defense was one of Las Vegas’ few strengths in 2025, ranking 14th by allowing 201 yards per game. While the Raiders have Jeremy Chinn and Isaiah Pola-Moa at safety, they could still use to add another explosive piece. With Stukes’ versatility, he could be a contributor all over the secondary, making the entire unit stronger.
The defensive back spent six seasons at Arizona, appearing in 52 games. In that time, Stukes put up 206 tackles, 29 passes defended and seven interceptions. In his final season with the Wildcats, Stukes recorded 52 tackles and six passes defended with a career-high four interceptions. He was named First-team All Big-12 and Second-team All-American.
New head coach Klint Kubiak will be looking for playmakers all across his roster. He has found one already at quarterback. With Stukes, he and the Raiders at the large would hope to have a defensive back to build around for the foreseeable future.
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